Department for Transport

Level Crossings: Plumpton Green

Baroness Bakewell of Hardington Mandeville: To ask Her Majesty’s Government (1) whether they consider the action of Network Rail in closing the level crossing in the East Sussex village of Plumpton Green acceptable, and (2) whether they will call on Network Rail to re-open the affected road running through the village as a matter of urgency; and what arrangements will be made for emergency vehicles, access for disabled people and parents trying to get their children to local schools.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Whilst Network Rail has an otherwise excellent record of completing works at the 6,200 level crossings which it manages with minimal disruption, it is highly regrettable that there appears to have been a lapse in project management in this particular case.The impact which the continued closure of the crossing is having on the lives of local residents and businesses is not acceptable. Ministers have raised this matter with Network Rail at the highest level to request that the company urgently re-doubles its efforts in partnership with local stakeholders to find a solution and ensure that the crossing can re-open as quickly as possible.

A1: Accidents

Lord Blunkett: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the accident on the M1 on 12 October, how long it took the Highways Agency to reopen junction 25 on the southbound carriageways, and how far north diversions were put in place.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Highways England report that the incident occurred around 2:15 am, with the carriageway fully reopened by 9:25 pm. Diversions were initially put in place from junction 25 of the M1, with traffic diverted onto the A52 westbound, the A5111 southbound, the A6 southbound and the A50 eastbound, to re-join the M1 at junction 24. Unfortunately, there was a second incident on the slip road of the M1 at junction 25, resulting in a lane being closed. This meant the M1 closure was extended further north to junction 26 until this incident was cleared.Variable Message Signs were set prior to junction 38, in order to encourage drivers to divert via the A38. In addition, messages were displayed on the M62, A1(M), M18, A46, A52 and A38.

M1: Speed Limits

Lord Blunkett: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when the 50 mile per hour limit on the M1 between junctions 19 and 15 will be lifted, in the light of the fact that work there has been suspended.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Highways England reports that Junction 15 to 16: traffic management was lifted in September 2015 and Junction 16 to 19: traffic management will be lifted in stages. It will be completely removed by the end of November 2015.

Railways: Tickets

Baroness Randerson: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have given any detailed consideration to requiring train operators to offer more flexible season tickets in order to protect the needs of those who work part-time or flexible hours.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: We are committed to introducing part-time season tickets and the industry is making progress on delivery of more flexible tickets. Two major commuter franchises – GTR and c2c – have obligations to start offering carnet-based season tickets on smartcards. Smartcard technology will make flexible ticketing possible and provides the necessary security and revenue protection to make it attractive to both passengers and operators. Many thousands of part-time workers will benefit from these new products when they are introduced.

Speed Limits: Rural Areas

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the case for the introduction of a 50 mile per hour speed limit on single-carriageway rural roads, and whether they plan to consult on such a proposal.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: There are no plans to decrease the speed limit to 50 mph on single carriageway rural roads.The Department for Transport has provided guidance to traffic authorities in the Speed Limit Circular 01/2013 - Setting Local Speed Limits. This encourages traffic authorities to keep speed limits under review, and to consider lower speed limits than the default, especially where there may be a relatively high number of bends, junctions or accesses.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 28 October (HL2659) stating that there was no intention to seek a derogation from the technical specifications for interoperability in respect of dimensions of the GC structure gauge for new high-speed lines for station platforms, whether HS2 have withdrawn their letter to the European Commission dated 21 July that seeks such a derogation.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The Department for Transport with HS2 Ltd are discussing with the Commission compliance requirements with the technical specification for infrastructure dealing with platform heights. These discussions are ongoing. The intention is, irrespective of the outcome of discussions on platform height, to meet the GC gauge requirements.

Toxicity of Chemicals in Food Consumer Products and the Environment Committee

The Countess of Mar: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 16 September (HL2047) regarding the Committee on Toxicology's advice about toxic chemicals in food and the environment, when they intend to write to the members of both Houses.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The Department for Transport’s officials are cooperating with the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment regarding the letter that clarifies the Committee’s position on cabin air. This is to ensure the Committee’s advice is represented in full and with clarity. The letters will be sent to the Members of both Houses imminently, certainly in November.

Aircraft: Air Conditioning

The Countess of Mar: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 8 July (HL831), how many of the recorded fume or smell events during the 100 flights referred to in that answer were reported to the Civil Aviation Authority under the mandatory reporting scheme.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: No fume event occurred during this study (Aircraft Cabin Air Sampling Study, Cranfield University, 2011) which triggered the airline’s formal reporting procedures to the Civil Aviation Authority.

Aviation: Pregnant Women

The Countess of Mar: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on 23 July (HL1538), whether workplace exposure limits apply legally to passengers as well as crew; and what evidence they have that damage to a foetus cannot occur from a single exposure at those limits.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Air passengers, and by extrapolation an unborn child, are within the scope of workplace exposure limits, which take into account susceptible groups and therefore would protect pregnant women.No specific evidence was collected during the studies regarding damage occurring to a foetus from a single exposure at workplace exposure limits.

Department for Education

Castes: Discrimination

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 15 July (HL Deb, col 575), whether they will clarify how the judgment in Tirkey v Chandhok has changed the law on caste discrimination.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The judgment suggests there is an existing legal remedy for claims of caste-associated discrimination, under the ‘ethnic origins’ element of Section 9 of the Equality Act 2010.

Academies: Finance

Baroness Pinnock: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the value of the charges deferred to local authority budgets as a consequence of a school with a deficit joining an Academy Trust with an external sponsor, in each of the last five financial years.

Lord Nash: The Department does not hold this information on local authority budgets.It is right that the deficits of sponsored academies remain with their local authority when they convert. These schools were the responsibility of the authority when they were found to be failing or underperforming and it is the authority’s responsibility for ensuring the school managed its expenditure satisfactorily.

Ministry of Justice

Liverpool Prison: Health Services

Baroness Stern: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the finding in 2014 by the Care Quality Commission that healthcare provision in HM Prison Liverpool was unsafe and the October report by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons on HM Prison Liverpool that improvement in healthcare "had a long way to go", when they expect that prison to provide an acceptable level of healthcare.

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park: Action is currently being taken to address the recommendations made in the inspection report.That includes working closely with Lancashire Care NHS Trust to improve the healthcare provision, which includes the recruitment of appropriate skilled healthcare professionals and robust data management collection.The inpatient facility now operates a structured daily regime for in patients and the holistic approach by the multi-disciplinary team which includes service user forums, psychiatric sessions and care plan reviews provides an enhanced care package.

Administration of Justice: Saudi Arabia

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty’s Government why they cancelled the contract with Saudi Arabia on justice, security and policing.

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the financial cost of cancelling the contract with Saudi Arabia on justice, security and policing.

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park: The Ministry of Justice has not entered into, or withdrawn from, a contract with Saudi Arabia concerning justice, security and policing. Earlier this year Just Solutions international (JSi), the commercial arm of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), submitted a bid to undertake a training needs analysis for the Saudi Arabian prison service. On 13 October 2015, the Secretary of State for Justice announced that this bid would be withdrawn, and so no contract was signed. I refer the honourable member to the Justice Secretary’s statement to the House of Commons which can be found in House of Commons Hansard Debates, 13 Oct 2015: Column 180.No direct cost was incurred as a result of withdrawing the bid from the competition process.

Ministry of Defence

Middle East: Military Aid

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what safeguards are in place to prevent armed opposition fighters funded by Western countries from using their arms and training against unintended targets, or acting in a way that contradicts the Government's overall strategy in the Middle East, in particular in Syria.

Earl Howe: The US-led programme to Train and Equip members of the moderate Syrian opposition, to which the UK has contributed, incorporated a screening process to determine the suitability of candidates. The training programme itself was designed to reinforce positive behaviours and on completion, successful candidates were required to make a formal declaration committing themselves to the fight against ISIL. Efforts continue to be made to monitor the activities of such individuals and the groups to which they are affiliated, to mitigate the risk that they engage thereafter in activities inconsistent with the aims of the programme.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Fly-tipping

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the fly-tipping statistics for England 2014–15, and what action they will take in response to them.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: The 2014/15 fly-tipping statistics showed that there were 900,000 reported fly-tipping incidents in England.Tackling fly-tipping is a priority for the Government. As set out in our manifesto we will be giving councils the power to tackle small scale fly-tipping through penalty notices as an alternative to prosecutions in spring 2016.These steps will build on other action we have taken, including working with the Sentencing Council to strengthen its Guideline for sentencing for environmental offences, which came into force on 1 July last year; making it easier for vehicles suspected of being involved in waste crime to be stopped, searched and seized; and continuing to work in partnership with others through the Defra-chaired National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group, to promote and disseminate good practice in the prevention, reporting, investigation and clearance of fly-tipped waste.

Motor Vehicles: Litter

Lord Marlesford: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will publish the scoping study on littering from vehicles legislation, and why such legislation was not implemented nationally in April.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: We expect to publish the study later this month.Before any regulations to tackle littering from vehicles are implemented, it will be important to get the details right. This will include matters such as the size of the fine, the form and content of the penalty notice, and exceptions to the keeper’s liability (for example if the vehicle has been stolen). We will therefore want to seek Local Authorities’ and others’ views before legislating. Any such regulations must be approved by both Houses of Parliament before coming into effect.Legislation to enable the seizure of vehicles involved in fly-tipping came into force in April 2015. As set out in our manifesto, we will be giving councils the power to tackle small scale fly-tipping through Penalty Notices, as an alternative to prosecutions, in spring 2016, and we will review the case for increasing fixed penalties for littering.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Syria: Refugees

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what financial support is in place to help local authorities to resettle Syrian refugees.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: Under the expanded Vulnerable Persons scheme, local authorities costs for the first year of a Syrian refugee's resettlement are funded from the Official Development Assistance budget. To ensure that local authorities can plan ahead we will also provide additional funding to assist with costs incurred in future years (2 to 5). The Government is working closely with the Local Government Association and individual councils on the details of how funding arrangements for years 2 to 5 will operate.

Combined Authorities: Devolution

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether introducing an elected mayor will be a requirement of all future devolution deals with combined authorities.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: Development of devolution deals is a bottom up process, in which areas bring us their proposals for the powers and budgets they want devolved to them. The accompanying governance arrangements they propose to support those powers and budgets must be commensurate with the scale of devolution they are seeking.Elected mayors provide that strong, single point of accountability which is essential for any devolution deal of the scale and ambition of the deals we have announced for Greater Manchester, Sheffield City Region, Tees Valley and the North East.

Cabinet Office

Constituencies

Lord Falconer of Thoroton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to amend section 3(5A) of the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 to remove the requirement on the Secretary of State to lay the draft of an Order in Council for giving effect to the recommendations contained in the Boundary Commissions’ reports.

Lord Bridges of Headley: The Government will outline its plans for constituency boundaries when it responds to the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee’s report, What next on the redrawing of parliamentary constituency boundaries?, in due course.

Department of Health

Care Quality Commission: Fees and Charges

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether an additional allocation will be made to the National Health Service to compensate for the costs of the proposed increases in fees set out in the options in the consultation paper published by the Care Quality Commission on 2 November.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the number of clinical staff in the National Health Service who will need to be made redundant to fund the proposed increases in fees as set out in the options in the consultation paper published by the Care Quality Commission on 2 November.

Lord Prior of Brampton: Government policy for fee-setting regulators is that their chargeable costs should be fully covered through their fees income, in line with HM Treasury Guidance set out in ‘Managing Public Money’.The proposed fees increases being consulted upon for 2016-17 reflect the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) commitment to achieving full cost recovery, in line with Managing Public Money, within the period of the Spending Review. The fees being charged are therefore funding the CQC as an effective regulator. They allow the CQC’s tough inspection regime to drive up standards across the country, which in turn ensures quality and safety of health and social care provision.The CQC’s new regulatory model, led by three specialist Chief Inspectors, provides for robust monitoring and inspection of hospitals, adult care providers and general practitioners.Our expectation is that National Health Service providers should be able to absorb these increases within their overall income which will depend, amongst other factors, on the outcome of the Spending Review and the subsequent tariff setting process for 2016-17.The Department has also announced that it will make up to £15 million available for general practice in order to cover this and other pressures in 2016/17.It is for providers to ensure that they have the appropriate capacity and capability in place in order to deliver a safe, high quality service.

NHS: Pensions

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what surplus they forecast for the NHS Pension Scheme in 2015–16 and 2016–17.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what additional contribution in cash terms they expect the NHS to make to the NHS Pension Scheme in 2016–17.

Lord Prior of Brampton: The NHS Pension Scheme is a ‘pay as you go’ pension scheme without financial assets. The last valuation in 2012 identified a deficit of £10.3 billion in the notional fund which is met by contributions from employers.No additional contribution is expected from the National Health Service in 2016-17. NHS employers will continue to pay the standard employer contribution rate of 14.3%.